


The Earth, My Refuge

by SamanthaStarbreaker



Series: Trans Kirk Stories [2]
Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies), Stargate SG-1
Genre: F/F, Trans Female Character, Trans James T. Kirk
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-09
Updated: 2019-02-09
Packaged: 2019-10-24 20:08:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17710736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SamanthaStarbreaker/pseuds/SamanthaStarbreaker
Summary: The SG-1 team has faced many unknowns already in their brief time together, but what it really takes to cement their team as a unit is the arrival of a woman through the Gate, one who calls herself James T. Kirk.





	1. Chapter 1

MARCH 17, 2273

1545 HOURS, ENTERPRISE TIME

LOW ORBIT ABOVE PLANET KARALA

Jim Kirk let out a whoop of delight as her shuttle climbed out of the planet's atmosphere. "That's how we do it, cupcake!" she said, looking over her shoulder at the security officer whose bar brawl led to her joining Starfleet. He glared at her, and said with annoyance, "Please, Captain. That nickname got old a year and a half ago, ma'am." She gave him a knowing wink, and returned to piloting the shuttlecraft. Another smooth run, and this should be the last one, too, she thought.  
Jim Kirk had something of a reputation amongst Starfleet brass. She was known for her willingness to interpret her orders rather loosely if it meant saving lives, and she was especially known for her stubbornness when she was wrong. This general set of attitudes had put the Admiralty in an interesting situation. She was publicly known as the hero who'd saved Earth from the Romulan attack, but she was dangerous to keep around. They'd compromised, and with much intervention from one Admiral Pike, decided to keep her in command of the Enterprise and assign her ship to clean up all the remnants of the red matter the Romulans had used to destroy Vulcan and very nearly Earth. After a year of tracking down all the tiny samples that had been scavenged from battle sites by smugglers and criminals, Jim finally had the last drop of red matter in the universe in her shuttle.  
She put the shuttle on an auto-pilot course back home, when the shuttle bucked underneath her. As Jim looked over her shoulder, half the cabin was gone; the ensign she'd always call Cupcake cut in half, with the canister of red matter drifting towards the sparking wires of the hull breach. She shoved off the controls, yelling "SHIT!" as her whole world suddenly vanished. A small singularity drifted where a Starfleet shuttle had been just a moment before.

APRIL 3, 1999  
1700 HOURS MOUNTAIN STANDARD TIME  
STARGATE COMMAND, COLORADO  
"Incoming traveller! Incoming traveller!" Master Sergeant Walter Harriman's voice echoed throughout the subterranean complex, drowned out only by the klaxons that signalled an unscheduled activation of the Stargate. As General Hammond walked down the stairs from his office to the cramped control room, he heard the sound of the titanium iris closing, and the telltale whoosh of a wormhole forming. Airmen rushed into the embarkation room with their guns drawn and aimed at the Stargate, and large mounted guns were manned and made ready, but the whole process was cut short when Harriman shouted to the General, "It's SG1, sir. IDC confirmed." Hammond replied, "Open the iris, son." As the protective barrier wound itself back up inside the Stargate, the whole room could see that the wormhole was flickering, sputtering as if something was interfering with its existence.  
The four members of SG1 stepped through the Stargate as if nothing were amiss. As they passed the Gate, they immediately noticed the wormhole's instability, and sped up their descent down the ramp. Major Carter, in particular, looked confused. The gate on P3X-759 had worked perfectly, and there had been no sign of instability. The wormhole's event horizon bulged outward, followed by another set of sputters, as a woman wearing a bright yellow shirt and black pants was thrown from the event horizon before the gate disconnected. The woman lay unconscious on the gateroom floor, as the general walked into the room and demanded an answer from Colonel O'Neill. "Colonel, who is this woman?" The leader of SG1 looked as confused as Hammond was.

Jim woke up in a small room, with a bed, a small table, and a door into a bathroom. She had a massive headache, but was otherwise intact. The background hum of the room was unfamiliar to her, and she didn't feel the telltale deck vibrations of a ship under her feet either. As she looked at the walls, she could swear they were made from stone. Her thoughts started to race. _Where am I? Is this a planet? Which planet? Who found me?_ She didn't have long to ponder those questions, as the door opened and a tall man with buzzed brown hair came in and gestured for her to sit down at the table. He grabbed a chair opposite the one he'd pointed at, sat down, and pointed to himself. "Jack," he said. He repeated his name, slower. "Jack." She looked at him for a moment, a look of confusion on her face. He pointed to himself again, and slowly said "Jack. My name is Jack." As she continued to watch him, it dawned on her. _He doesn't think I can understand him._ She started to snicker, but it quickly devolved into full-scale laughter.

Jack O'Neill had a sense of humor. He was constantly cracking wise, at nearly every opportunity. For the life of him, though, he couldn't understand what was funny about his name. Usually by this point, an alien would at least understand that he was giving them his name, and reply in kind. _Should have had Daniel do this. At least he'd be better at trying to understand the language._ As the girl stopped laughing, caught her breath for a moment, he looked at her inquiringly, waiting for her to continue. She looked at him, smiling brightly, and said, "Hi, Jack!" Her eyes drifted down his chest for a moment, and she said, "Jack… O'Neill. How are you, Mr. O'Neill?"  
Jack said, "Colonel. It's Colonel O'Neill. And, to be honest, I've had better days. Care to explain how you speak English, or how you followed my team through the Stargate without being noticed, miss…" "Kirk. Captain Jim Kirk. English is one of the most common languages on my home planet of Earth. What about you? Where are you from?" Jack laughed for a moment himself, thinking fondly back to when he was sitting in a similar cell in 1969, and told his very own Air Force interrogator that he was Captain Jim Kirk of the starship Enterprise.  
"Jim Kirk, huh? Well, at least you're not lying about being from Earth. This is the only planet you could make that joke on." He suddenly noticed the clothes; the bright yellow shirt, the black pants. _She's even wearing a costume! She's definitely some kind of geek. Time to let Carter sort this out._ He gave her a sardonic grin and said, "Tell you what. Tell me your real name, I'll get you some food, and we can talk about how you got here." "That is my real name, and I don't know how I got here. I don't actually know where 'here' is." Jack rolled his eyes. "Alright, then. Have it your way, space cadet."

As O'Neill left the room and closed the door behind him, Jim didn't get up. She had to process all this information. Her captors were clearly human, but they didn't recognize the uniform. They had, however, heard of her. He'd recognized her name, but didn't believe her. She just didn't have enough information. She pushed her chair out from the table, looked around the room, and walked over to the bathroom to take a look at her condition. As she entered the room, the light didn't come on. She was puzzled by this, and said, "Lights." Nothing happened. She tried a slightly louder voice. "Computer, lights." Nothing happened. As she looked around the dim chamber, she noticed by the entry a manual switch, pressed it, and the lights came on. _Manual. Odd._ She could see her face in the mirror, scratched and filthy. There was a shower right there, and whoever her captors were, they didn't seem inclined to harm her. She figured she'd have enough time to wash the dirt and blood away, and be ready for whatever would happen next.

Sam Carter knocked before entering; from what the colonel had told her, the woman inside was human and not explicitly hostile, and she didn't want to give off the wrong impression. As she went into the guest room, she heard the sound of the shower. She also saw their strange guest's clothes laid out on the bed, and decided to come back later. As she turned to leave, something about the shirt caught her eye. She noted that it did in fact look similar to the uniform from Star Trek, but of much higher detail, and a more intense color. She walked over and picked up one of the sleeves of the golden shirt, seeing that the fabric had a pattern to it. It was composed of tiny arrowhead shapes. Carter was impressed at the improvisation this woman had done, adding to a sci-fi classic like that, She didn't even notice as the woman who said her name was Jim Kirk had walked up behind her, tapping her on the shoulder. "Never seen a Starfleet uniform before?" Sam turned and looked, and seeing that her guest was nude, immediately blushed and turned around. _Was that… she's got… what?_ She immediately said, regaining her military composure, "Ma'am, my apologies. I can return later." The woman laughed. "Never seen a naked woman before, either?" Sam replied, "Not in a while, ma'am, and …" Her voice trailed off. "And?" her guest replied. "Nothing, ma'am."

Jim was puzzled for a moment, but decided not to pursue it. She simply pulled her shirt on, affixed the insignia, and said, "Nothing it is, then. I'm Jim. Jim Kirk. I'm dressed now, by the way; you can turn around." The blonde woman in front of her replied, "Major Sam Carter. Pleased to meet you." Jim sat on the edge of the bed and asked, "A Colonel O'Neill was here earlier, and he said this was Earth. Is that right? Am I being held prisoner on my own planet?" Sam replied, "Miss Kirk, put frankly, we don't know how much of a risk you pose. You say that you're from Earth, but you won't give us your real name, or tell us why you're wearing that costume, or how you got here through the Stargate. Until we know more, we can't allow you to leave." Jim was intrigued at the implication that she was lying. "Sam, why do you not believe my name? Is it some kind of traditional gender roles thing? Or is there something you know that I don't?" The major looked very confused, as if she didn't understand the question. Jim decided to try a different tack.  
"You called my uniform a costume. If it's a costume, then it's an imitation of something. Who do you think I'm pretending to be?" "Well, ma'am, you seem to be dressed up as Captain Kirk from Star Trek." "I've never heard of 'Star Trek', and I am in fact Captain Kirk. I'm dressed up as myself." Samantha looked at the woman for a moment. She's insistent, at least. Maybe she actually believes it. She made a decision. "Captain Kirk, are you feeling hungry?" The woman nodded, and Sam continued, "Come with me; let's get some food."  
As she followed Carter, Jim took in the corridors with their exposed pipes, steel supports, and caged light bulbs. _This is no Earth I've been to; this seems like the Stone Age._ They found their way to the mess hall, where Jim got herself a plate of chicken and potatoes, and sat across from Carter. None of this made any sense. The buried facilities and lack of replicators or voice computers would indicate pre-warp civilization, but they acted as if they'd known people from other worlds. It was just too inconsistent. She asked, "Sam, what's today's date?" "April 4, 1999. Why?" Jim was floored by that answer. "1999? And you've made contact with other worlds?" As she asked that, a large man with a tattoo on his forehead walked up to the pair and sat down with them. "Indeed they have." Carter looked at the new arrival with a smile, and said, "Miss Kirk, this is Teal'c. He's from a planet called Chulak." Jim shook the man's hand. "Jim Kirk, from Earth. Nice to meet you, Teal'c." "And you, Jim Kirk," responded Teal'c. Carter was clearly trying very hard, and failing, to suppress her laughter, and Jim still couldn't understand it. "Major, again, I have to ask. Why is this so funny?" Carter looked at the Starfleet woman and said, "I'll show you. Come on. Teal'c, have you ever seen Star Trek?" "I have not, Major Carter." "Then this will be enlightening for all of us."

The three of them went down yet more labyrinthine stone halls to what seemed to be some sort of meeting room, where there was a table and a grouping of chairs, and a white wall. Carter had stopped to retrieve a box of some kind from her office, and now placed this box into a slot on a larger box. Some sort of data tape, perhaps? wondered Captain Kirk. Carter dimmed the lights, as the wall was lit with an image by a projection device on the ceiling. As all this was happening, two more people walked into the room. O'Neill was the first, followed by a man wearing spectacles and carrying several books. A professor, no doubt. O'Neill spoke up. "Carter, what the hell are you doing?" "Showing Captain Kirk here the adventures of Captain Kirk. Why?" The man responded laconically, "You're having movie night, and you didn't invite Daniel and me?" He sat down in an exaggerated fashion, and the academic sat between him and the Captain. He reached out to shake her hand. "Dr. Daniel Jackson." She said, "Captain Jim Kirk." Dr. Jackson looked at her with that familiar expression of someone who's waiting for the punchline. She continued. "That's my actual name. I'm not joking, I'm not lying, I'm Jim Kirk." Carter said, "Well, Captain, just watch this, and tell us what you think." She reached out to press a button on the box, and the image on the wall began to play a recording.

Sam watched the girl as she saw the episode of Star Trek. At first, she had seemed confused. Then her confusion had rapidly turned into frustration or anger. By the time the 20 minutes were up and Carter got up to turn the lights back on, the woman seemed furious. It took until she'd sat back down before the woman looked at her with a glare that seemed intended to cut right through the side of the mountain, and said in a quiet voice, "What the **hell** was that?" Sam responded, "That's a television drama called Star Trek. It's a significant cultural fixture." This caused the young woman to become even further enraged, and raise her voice. "A drama? For entertainment?" Sam nodded. "A couple of things. First, I am not a man, let alone a man like … that." The last word had been said with dripping disgust that could melt the table. "Second, that happened. That wasn't fiction. Good people died, and their lives weren't just some dramatic moment to keep the story interesting. I buried Crewmen Darnell, Sturgeon, Green, and Barnhart. I had to stand there while their families asked me why I failed; why their boys were never coming home."  
Colonel O'Neill looked at her somberly for a moment. He'd been right there, doing exactly what she described; her response was real. She might not be Jim Kirk from Star Trek, but she sure as hell completely believed she was. This meant they had to approach her differently. He spoke, after a moment. "I'm sorry, Jim. Even one time is too many. I'm going to do whatever I can to help you. In a moment, an airman is going to come by and take you to the infirmary, and we'd like it if you would let Dr. Frazier give you a physical. We can also get you a fresh set of clothing, though they won't be as brightly colored. We'll meet back up later, okay?"  
The captain got a glint in her eyes when he mentioned the physical, and said, "Sounds good, sir. I'll head right on down for that medical exam." Jack motioned to the other members of SG1, and they all cleared the room.


	2. Chapter 2

APRIL 4, 1999  
ONE MILE BELOW CHEYENNE MOUNTAIN, COLORADO  
The 4 members of SG1 were gathered in the briefing room, with General Hammond at the head of the long conference table. The older man simply looked at O'Neill and asked, "Your thoughts?" The colonel replied, "She genuinely and completely believes that she's Captain James T. Kirk of the starship Enterprise, sir. That said, I don't think she's a threat. She doesn't claim to know anything about the Stargate, despite having come here through it, and judging from her reactions to us, she doesn't bear any ill will." The general took a moment and asked Major Carter, "Do you have any theories about how she got here, Major?" "No, sir, although something was clearly interfering with that wormhole. There are over 400 feedback signals generated by the Stargate, sir, and our dialing computers don't understand 250 of them. Whatever happened, I don't think she came from P3X-759 where we did. She started somewhere else." Daniel raised his hand and said, "We could always ask her? If anyone knows where she came from, she probably would." Jack smiled at Daniel's suggestion, always the one who believed in people. He interjected, "General, if you don't mind, I'd like her read in to the program. She's already here, she came through the Gate, and I think she would be more cooperative if we weren't actively keeping information from her." General Hammond nodded. "That's reasonable, Colonel. Give her the nickel tour."

Jim, despite her usual behavior, didn't mind physicals. She just liked making trouble for Leonard. The grumpy old bastard deserved it. As she followed the airman to the infirmary, she saw yet more completely antiquated technology, as several doctors in white lab coats tended to various patients. She knocked on the edge of the door, and said, "Hello? I'm Captain Kirk, here for a physical?" A petite woman with brown hair and pretty brown eyes turned at her words, and walked up to her. "Hi, I'm Dr. Frazier. I'm the chief medical officer here at the SGC. Colonel O'Neill said you're actually from Earth, right? Welcome back." The doctor hadn't stopped smiling the whole time, which threw Jim for a loop. She couldn't remember the last cheerful doctor she'd met. She went through the usual measurements of height and weight, and this time she'd also been measured around her bust, waist, and hips, most likely for the clothes Jack had mentioned. Dr. Frazier asked, "Because you've come through the Stargate from an alien world, we'd like to run a series of tests. Would you be okay with that? I'll walk you through them." "Of course, Doctor, whatever you need." The doctor grabbed a long pointed instrument, swabbed an area on her skin, and actually physically inserted it into her. She was very nervous about this whole business, but as the instrument's empty reservoir filled with her blood, she understood. Blood tests, to scan for diseases. The doctor continued to apply pressure on the point where she'd been stabbed, and wrapped it in a bandage.   
"Never had blood drawn, Captain?"   
"Not in a long time, Doctor; usually we scan the blood while it's still inside the body."   
"That's amazing that you can get that kind of resolution on scans. Well, here we still have to work with optical microscopes, so typically we do draw blood."  
"What other kinds of tests are we talking about today?"  
The captain heard Dr. Frazier describe them, and didn't quite understand. She just said yes, which is how she ended up lying completely still on a platform inside some kind of cylindrical scanner she'd been told was called an MRI. When the platform brought her back out of the machine, the doctor looked at her with a look of utter confusion on her face. 

Jack, Daniel, Sam, and Teal'c stopped by the infirmary after their meeting, to see Jim and Dr. Frazier on two chairs across from each other, talking energetically. As the two of them looked over and saw SG1's entrance, first Jim, then Dr. Frazier got up and walked over. "Good news," said Jim with a sort of smirk, "I'm in great health." Dr. Frazier added, "Better than any I've ever seen, in fact. Our good Captain could probably outperform most of our personnel physically." Jack asked, "Any weird alien stuff? You checked for the implanted chest nuke, right?" Dr. Frazier looked over to Captain Kirk before answering, "There are no bombs. She does have two devices surgically implanted in her, and to be honest, at least one of them isn't my business, so I'll let her explain." The captain pointed at her left forearm, and said, "This one is for identity verification. It's a small subspace communication antenna with a memory device, which contains my name, my service number, my medical history, and my security clearance. Every Fleet officer has one." Everyone seemed to understand. Jim then pointed at her right shoulder, under the collarbone. "This one is a hormonal regulator. It filters and adjusts the levels of testosterone, estradiol, estrone, and progesterone in my blood."   
Daniel asked, "So it's a contraceptive?" Jim shook her head, and Sam understood what she'd seen earlier. She said, "You were born male, weren't you?" Jim sighed, and responded, "That's one very unhelpful way to put it, although the preferred parlance is 'assigned male at birth'. It's anatomy, not gender. And in the 23rd century, it's commonplace for people to alter their anatomy to fit their gender if they so desire." Jack asked her, "So your name is Jim because you used to be a man?" She looked at him with the anger of a wounded animal. "My name is James Tiberius Kirk because giving me that name was the last thing my father ever did. He died saving my life, and a lot of other people's lives, and I will honor his dying wish. It's not because I was a man. I was never a man, and I never will be." Daniel said - as much to Jack as to the captain - "Cross-sex gender expression happens all over Earth. It's in almost every ancient culture. Only in modern times has there really come to be a stigma to it, and I'm happy to hear that where you're from, they've gotten over it. We could stand to do the same." Teal'c nodded. "It is good to honor your father in that way, James Kirk." Jack seemed to be mulling it over as Sam apologized. "I'm sorry, Jim. I didn't mean to say that you're any less of a woman." Jim smiled, and said, "No problem, Samantha. I know it's probably odd to you. I could be the first transgender person any of you have met. The important part is to keep in mind that just because my reproductive organs are on the outside instead of the inside, doesn't mean I'm any less a woman, or any less an officer." Major Carter's face formed a mischievous grin at that, and Colonel O'Neill laughed. "You're not the first captain to say something like that to me, Miss Kirk. And, like the last one, you're absolutely right. And the doctor says you're clean, so let's get you caught up to speed on the Stargate."

Jack led her down the halls to the briefing room, where they all took seats around the table. Daniel went first, saying, "So you already know that we're not alone in the universe; there are other beings out there, on other worlds."  
Jim nodded, as Daniel continued. "We made first contact in 1994. Colonel O'Neill and I, along with a large team, travelled by Stargate to a planet called Abydos, where we met a civilisation of people speaking ancient Egyptian. They worshipped the sun god Ra, who we discovered was a real being; a parasitic life form called a Goa'uld that takes control of a human host. This Goa'uld had taken the identity of the people's god, and with its superior technology, enslaved the planet's population. With the help of the Abydonians, we eventually killed Ra with a nuclear bomb placed aboard his spaceship. Colonel O'Neill returned here to Earth, and declared the Stargate closed, while I stayed on Abydos, with my wife, Sha're. This was the first known contact Earth had had with alien life."  
After hearing Daniel's story, Jim couldn't help staring. Nukes! They'd used a nuclear weapon! She took a moment to compose herself, and decided to start with the most obvious question. "You said this world, Abydos, was populated by people speaking ancient Egyptian. Human people?" Daniel's eyes dimmed for a moment, and he quietly said, "The most human." Teal'c added, "The Goa'uld seeded humans, taken from this planet, throughout the galaxy to use as slaves, and as hosts. Over generations, they turned some of those humans into the Jaffa, who serve them both as warriors and servants and as incubators for their larva, in exchange for long life and health." Jim watched as the large man lifted his shirt to reveal a pouch, like a marsupial, from which a snake-like creature emerged. She looked impressed, as she asked, "So these Goa'uld are your enemies? You're at war with them?" O'Neill nodded. "And you think the use of nuclear weapons is justified?" she continued acerbically. Sam saw the captain's temper rising and tried to explain. "Yes, captain, against a technologically superior force, with vast armies and a fleet of faster-than-light spaceships, we don't take anything off the table." Jim was speechless. These people were militarized lunatics. Daniel could see this was not having its intended effect; their guest was about to fly out of their seat. "I understand, Jim. It's not every day you face annihilation, and you're right. The ends don't justify the means, and we've used some pretty extreme means. But the alternative is extinction. The Goa'uld will kill us all if given the chance. In fact, there have been several times when they've almost succeeded in wiping out this planet's population entirely."

Jim understood, but she couldn't bring herself to condone it. People did all sorts of things when they were desperate. She'd just never thought of Earth as a place where people could be desperate. She asked Teal'c, "How many worlds have these Goa'uld enslaved?" "Thousands, James Kirk," he answered, "Thousands of worlds kneel before the Goa'uld."  
"And how many have you freed?"  
"With the help of our allies, several."  
Jim looked at the SG1 team, calming down, and putting her Federation diplomacy face back on. "I understand. It's been a while since we've been at war, and I won't make judgements without being where you've been. You mentioned they had a fleet. How many ships do you have to face them with?"  
Jack looked almost ashamed. "None. Earth doesn't have any ships."  
Confused, Jim asked, "Then how did you go to other planets? The 'Stargate' you mentioned, it's not a spacecraft?" At this, Jack made a look at Sam, who promptly made the same look at Daniel. Daniel laughed and picked up a marker. He drew a circle on the wall, and then two concentric circles. He continued to add details, and when he was done, there was a detailed drawing of 2 concentric rings. The outer ring had 9 triangular protrusions, while the inner ring consisted of 39 strange symbols. He pointed to the drawing, saying "This is a Stargate." Jack shook his head, smiling at Daniel, and said "Show-off." Daniel winked, and continued. "It provides near-instantaneous transportation between planets in what we call the Stargate network. The inner ring has 39 glyphs that represent star constellations as seen from Earth. These glyphs translate to spatial coordinates. Using 6 of them to encode a destination, and one for the point of origin, the Stargate on our end connects with the Stargate on another planet, forming a wormhole between the two gates." Jim's jaw dropped. "You can create stable, artificial wormholes?" Carter interjected, "Only for 38 minutes. After that length of time, it becomes unstable without amounts of power equivalent to a small star."

Jim thought about it, then asked, "Can these Stargates send someone back in time as well?"  
Sam was impressed, smiling. "That's a good question. Yes, in rare instances a wormhole crosses paths with another gravitational disturbance, and the receiving end is redirected through time. You're thinking that's what happened to you?"  
"I'm not sure. I've never seen, let alone used, a Stargate."  
"Well, what's the last thing you remember?"  
"I was flying a shuttle. Ensign Williams and I were returning to the Enterprise, from an environmental cleanup mission. We were shot down, and the hazardous material ignited into a singularity. Then I fell into it, and woke up here."  
Carter couldn't help but pick at the physics in Jim's statement. "Ignited into a singularity?"  
Jim grinned. "They don't send the flagship out for cleanup duty if it's not important."  
Sam was still shocked. That wasn't in any episode of Star Trek. Was the woman improvising, or her real memories poking through perhaps? She pressed the point. "Combustion created a singularity? That's not possible, Jim." Jim mulled over the dangers of interfering in the past, but this was very clearly not her past. She decided to tell them the whole story.

As the young woman recounted the tale of Nero's incursion through time, from her birth to the death of Vulcan, and her taking command of the Enterprise, Sam couldn't help but believe her. This wasn't cribbed from any TV show, and she'd seen things just as strange. She believed that this woman was in fact James T. Kirk, and her Federation was real, in some far-off alternate reality. It was quite possible Jim would never be able to return to the universe from which she came. She might be stuck on an Earth she had no ties to, permanently, and Sam couldn't help but imagine how lonely an existence that would be. She placed her hand on the Captain's and said, "I'm so sorry, Jim. Sorry for all you've lost, and that you're so far from home. This isn't your past, is it?"  
Jim shook her head. "No, it most definitely is not. My Earth was embroiled in the Eugenics Wars right around now; we'd continue to fight and kill each other senselessly for another hundred years before Zephram Cochrane's first flight, and our first contact with alien life. Whatever this Earth may be, I'd call it an improvement."


	3. Chapter 3

General Hammond was quite unamused at the sight before him. As he discussed their unknown guest with SG-1, he was shocked to hear that they believed her. "Do you seriously expect me to take this to the Pentagon, Colonel? To the President? Am I supposed to look our Commander-in-Chief in the eye and tell him that our facility has been broken into by Captain James Kirk of the Starship Enterprise? Are you insane?" Major Carter responded for Jack, "No, sir. I wouldn't advise you to report that; merely that she's human, but not from this planet; that she accidentally came through the Stargate and we're still investigating. Sir, I do believe her, and I believe that she could have advanced knowledge that could give us an advantage against the Goa'uld. She could teach us to build ships, to fight the Goa'uld on their own turf. And above that, she's just another human, lost in the universe."  
Jack added laconically, "She's right, sir, even if she's just geeking out about meeting someone from Star Trek."  
The general considered it, and decided to go along, for now. "You have 2 days to come up with proof; after that, the Pentagon will want her."

Jim had decided to explore the winding maze of hallways that made up this facility until someone physically stopped her. As she rounded a corner, she bumped into a very rambunctious man, about 1.7 meters high with short dark hair, who started to yell at her until he saw her face. At that point he blushed, and changed his tone, but the question was the same. "Ah, wh... who are you and what are you doing here?"  
"Jim. Jim Kirk. Taking a look around. You?"  
The man got a look on his face that as far as she could tell was halfway between upset and confused, and responded, "I'm Dr. Rodney McKay. Who are you really?" She responded, "Jim Kirk. Captain, USS Enterprise. Currently lost in what I'm told is called Stargate Command, although I haven't run into any Stargates. Any idea where I can find one?" She grinned as her words further agitated him. As she looked over his shoulder, she saw a chess set on his desk, and pointed it out. "That's a nice chess set, Doctor. You play?" He stared at her more; he was doing a lot of that. She wasn't sure how to take it. "It's a collectible piece, there aren't any actual rules to Star Trek chess." She decided his stares meant that either he was attracted to her or intimidated by her, and Jim figured playing with that wouldn't be too harmful, so she made her voice a little more angry and said, "You know, Rodney, ever since I got here, everyone's talking about Star Trek. And I can't stand Star Trek." He looked at her clothing, lingering far too long on her chest, and said "Your costume would imply otherwise," with a smug look on his face. She got closer to him, not breaking eye contact, until she whispered in his ear, "It's not a costume, Rodney. It's a uniform. I'm not messing with you; I actually am James Kirk. And yes, the game you call Star Trek chess has rules, and I can teach them to you. If you stop staring at my chest." He was speechless for a moment, cleared his throat, then responded, "Jim Kirk is a man. Everyone knows that." She stared Rodney in the eyes again, with her own eyes blazing with anger. "I was never a man, Doctor." She turned and started walking away, saying over her shoulder, "But if you ever do want to play chess, let me know." She still hadn't found the Stargate, and there were far more bland, stone hallways to discover.

Jim had finally figured out the arrangement of the halls and corridors. The colored stripes on the floor and walls led to major rooms. She had been following a green stripe for a while, and she found herself in front of a very large door, easily 3 meters tall and 2 wide. A guard stood in front of it, wearing the same uniform everyone in this facility did. She saw him stiffen at her presence. "Am I not supposed to be here? I can turn around, if you like," she said playfully. The soldier was not amused at her smile or her charm, and reached to grab the black box on the front of his uniform, when Major Carter ran up to her. "It's okay, airman, she's with me," said the major. "You, captain, are a hard woman to find." Jim's smile widened. "Major Carter! I'm glad you're here; I seem to be lost in a subterranean labyrinth, and the corridors have no rhyme or reason. I wonder if anyone here went on to design the Constitution-class," Jim said, scratching her head. Sam laughed. "So, you've been exploring our little labyrinth, in clothes that make you stick out like a sore thumb, and taunting our poor airmen; did you find what you're looking for?" Jim shrugged noncommittally with mischief in her eyes and said, "Still haven't seen a single one of these 'Stargates' laying around. It's almost disappointing." Sam laughed at the Captain's humor. "Oh, is that all you wanted to see? Just the biggest secret in the most secure facility on Earth?" Nodding to the airman, she said, "Go ahead and open it up; she's cleared." The airman took a plastic card out of his pocket and pressed it against a device by the door, and the door slid into the wall. Sam took Jim's hand and led her into a room that didn't seem to have a ceiling, with a ramp leading up to the Stargate. Jim was staring. This was like nothing she'd ever seen. "So this is a Stargate, huh?" she said, with feigned nonchalance. Sam looked at her with a knowing grin, and said, "This is a Stargate. Our only link to the wider universe. At least, until we have starships of our own. We're working on a project where we'd take Goa'uld technology and integrate it into a USAF spaceframe to provide faster-than-light capabilities and communication." As the major was talking, Jim had walked up to the base of the Stargate and started running her finger along it. She felt the interlocking curves, like those of a Spirograph, around the surface of the Gate. Her hand paused at the 4th chevron, and she turned to Sam. "This thing can create stable wormholes on command? Where did you find it?" Sam said, "Exactly where you'd expect to find the most advanced piece of alien technology ever discovered. Buried in the desert. Turns out, if the Gate is buried in earth or sand, or really if it has any significant obstacle inside the ring, it's disabled. The ancient Egyptians buried it to stop the Goa'uld from returning." Jim touched it once more. "You said something about starships; you were going to build them with alien technology?" Sam's eyes got a glint in them as she said, "We'll build them however we have to; but I'd prefer that we get good, solid, Earth technology. And I'm not the only one." That glint became a full-blown ray of mischief as she said, "Say, you're from Earth, aren't you, miss starship captain?"

Jim had definitely expected this at some point. This would be the part where they asked her for her future knowledge, her technology. And she'd be able to give it to them; not every Starfleet captain knew her starship bolts-up, but she did. Her initials were still scratched onto 3 of the hull plates that had survived the battles with Nero. She had checked. Jim knew that she'd have to give them something; they weren't altruistic, they were at war. They had no reason to help her get home at all if she wouldn't help them. She also knew that she'd already violated General Order 1, that it wouldn't make a difference at this point, since they would be building warp ships anyway; she'd really only be helping them survive the process better. A small part of her also thought that perhaps this was her chance to help this Earth become closer to the peaceful, exploring Earth she came from. She sighed. "Not your Earth, Samantha. Not your Earth." She took a step away from the Gate, her touch lingering as long as she could, and said, "I'll help you with your war, but I have terms. Who do I talk to about that?" Sam smiled and said, "Right this way." The two walked back up to the briefing room from earlier, where Jack and an older man with a blue uniform sat. As the two walked into the room, Jack looked over at Carter and said, "She's a grown woman, Major, did ya really need to hold hands while you show her around?" Neither of the women had even noticed they were holding hands; they both let go at the same time, as Sam's face turned a nice shade of scarlet. Jim reached over to the older man for a handshake, and he took it. "Hello, I'm Captain James Kirk, United Federation of Planets." He responded, "General George Hammond, United States Air Force." She sat down across from him. "I'm told that you are at war, and could use some help to turn out starships." He nodded. "That's correct, Captain. We were hoping you'd have the ability to show us some technology that could turn the tide."  
"Well, General, I will absolutely help you with some things, and there are others that I absolutely will not help with."  
"Such as?"  
"I'll help you with warp travel, and with shields and communications, but I will not give you our weapons. I've heard what you've done when desperate, and it's too dangerous to give you the kind of weaponry we have. The only reason I trust Starfleet with our weapons is that we're an exploratory and humanitarian armada, not an offensive one."  
"We could use any help you can provide us with. Weapons would be ideal, but even without them, we will take any knowledge you are willing to share."  
"I also have other terms."  
"And what would those be?"  
"I won't be a prisoner here. I want to see the galaxy, and I'd like to be able to see Earth as well. I want to go home, and I'll need your help to make that happen."  
The general thought about it for a moment. "We've taken in those from other worlds before; you'd have to maintain a cover story. We'd give you a new identity, as a member of this project. As far as seeing the galaxy, you'll have to do that under the direction of one of our SG team leaders. Do you understand how military discipline works?"  
"Yes, sir, I'm led to believe my Starfleet is a descendant of those traditions."  
"And as a naval captain, you'd be equivalent to an Air Force colonel."  
"I wouldn't know, sir, but a captain in Starfleet is the highest rank below flag rank."  
"Well, then, Captain, I'll get you assigned to an SG team. In the meantime, talk to the quartermaster about a uniform, and we'll also work to get you pay and lodgings. Is there anything I can take to my superiors to show them this is a deal worth making?"  
Jim nodded, and stood up. Grabbing a marker, she wrote a series of equations on the whiteboard. "These are the fundamentals of warping space to achieve faster than light travel. It's only the math, though, sir; you'd need time and materials to build an actual drive." She sketched the workings of a Federation warp drive, to illustrate; labeling the reaction chamber, the EPS, the nacelles, everything that explained how it worked. "Given that time and those materials, though, I absolutely can help you build one."  
Sam stared at the board for a moment and said, "This isn't a hyperdrive. It would enable FTL travel through normal space." Jim responded, "Got it in one, Sam. We haven't ever used subspace for travel; it was too unstable, and in subspace you can't see what's going on in normal space; it leaves you blind." The general nodded. "Fine work, Captain. We'll work out the details of your stay with us on Earth." Jim thanked him and walked out of the room. 

The general gave Jack a knowing look, saying, "Colonel O'Neill, there's only one SG team that's successfully had an extra-terrestrial member; she's also too senior to assign to a lower team. SG-1 just got a new member." Jack sighed. "That figures, sir; I needed a space cadet for my team anyway." After a pause, he started delegating tasks. "Carter, you get her settled in here with the SGC. I'll work on how to get the SGC used to her. Daniel, can you get her set up with an office?" He got up, and the group dispersed. Sam asked after Jim with the airmen outside, and they directed her to McKay's office, where she saw him playing a complicated chess game with her. It was a shocking sight to see McKay, of all people, treating someone with respect, let alone a woman. He caught sight of her, and stammered out, "Major Carter, ah, what a surprise. Have you met Captain Kirk?" Jim turned and gave her a beaming grin. "Sam! I was just teaching Rodney here how to play chess in three dimensions; want to try?" Sam said, "Maybe later. Right now, I've got a whole list of things to go through; follow me, and we'll get you set up with everything you need." Jim turned to Rodney, moved her knight onto one of the raised boards, and said "Checkmate." She winked and followed Sam out of the room. 

Sam led her into a lift; she felt it going higher and higher, until the doors opened onto another corridor level; this one was busier, and far more of the people walking about had impressive, decorated uniforms compared to the SGC levels where people dressed plainly. Sam showed her to what looked like a large storage room; a woman was sitting at a desk by the entrance, and when Sam talked with her for a few moments, she went to the back of the room, pulling several sets of the green uniforms Jim saw everyone on the lower levels wearing, and a blue one she hadn't seen anyone wear, out of a case. She also opened a drawer and pulled out several metal pins and a plastic card. She packed all of it except the card into a duffel, and handed the bag and the card to Jim. Jim saw the card, with a photo of her face, her name, and other identifying features. "Kirk, James T. Captain," she read, "US Navy." She pulled out the blue uniform from the bag; it looked formal and ornate. The stripes on the sleeves were like hers; denoting her rank. She found a restroom, changed into this new uniform, and pinned a name badge reading "KIRK" onto her left breast. When she came out, several airmen saluted her. She returned the salute, and Sam gave her a playful grin. "It suits you, Captain. Everyone loves a girl in uniform." The two women took another lift; this one was considerably faster, and when the door opened, Jim could see the sunlight. They walked outside through the thickest door that Jim had ever seen, and she saw the Rocky Mountains in all their glory. She took a moment. "They don't have mountains on your Earth, Captain?" Sam playfully ribbed her. "Not in Iowa, they don't, Major. Not in Iowa they don't. Where is this?" "Colorado Springs," said the blonde, "home of NORAD Deep Space Radar, which is where you work if anyone asks." Jim smiled. "Never been to Colorado. Care to show the new girl around?" Sam returned the playful smile. "I'd love to."

Sam motioned for Jim to join her in her vehicle as they got to the bottom of the mountain, and she started to drive. "You have a model of my ship, on your mirror," Jim remarked, her face not at all betraying her frustration. "Yeah, I suppose I do," Carter replied. "I keep it there to remind me why I'm here." With a smile, she looked over at the captain and continued, "Because of you, actually. You and your crew." Jim sighed, her hands involuntarily drifting to her forehead. "You mean because of him. The fictional James Kirk. Him and this Star Trek bullshit." Carter simply asked "Do I?" as she pulled onto the road leading downtown. Jim didn't reply, but after a while, the major answered her own question. "Star Trek inspired me a lot as a piece of fiction, but finding out that it happened? That there are real life Starfleet officers? That a woman can be captain of a starship? I think that's even more inspiring." Jim hadn't expected that response; she wasn't Starfleet's first female captain, or even their first trans female captain, and she certainly didn't think of herself as a hero. She was certain the Admiralty thought of her as something between a nuisance and a publicity stunt. Sam changed the subject quickly, pointing out markets, houses, the local college, an airport, and the mountains, all with a smile on her face. "You're from here, aren't you, Sam?" It wasn't really a question, and Sam knew it. "I am. Colorado's always been home for me. It never really gets old." Jim saw the feeling of being home as a sparkle in the major's eyes, and she realized that she'd never really felt like that before. She wondered if she ever would, and didn't make another comment the rest of the night.


	4. Chapter 4

The next two weeks were a massive blur. Jim spent almost all of her time in the lab they'd assigned her, to the point where Daniel had given up on trying to get her to go back to her quarters to sleep and just got a cot moved into the lab. Jim didn't actually get much opportunity for sleep, with airmen coming in and out delivering supplies, McKay and Sam coming through to argue about math, and McKay in particular trying to seem like the smartest person in the room at any given time. Day blurred into night and back into day under the mountain, and a bare-bones warp reactor took shape. Her lab stretched upwards, fading into blackness with no perceptible ceiling. She assumed it accessed the surface, for when they decided to move her reactor or evacuate. She flipped her welding mask up, the visor reflecting that wall fading into the black, as her final weld began to cool. It was good work, and she knew it. With a grin, she picked up a wall phone, dialed Sam's office, and said, "It's finished. Come take a look." She opened up the reaction chamber and lined up her carefully crystallized dilithium in the reaction chamber. Pushing everything carefully into place, she threw the switch with a flourish. The ersatz EPS took the plasma just fine, and the hum of the reactor was oddly comforting for Jim to hear. She decided she'd sit down and just listen to the sound for a few moments.

Sam Carter walked into the SGC's newest engineering lab to find the Starfleet captain asleep on the floor next to the reactor, with her beefed up voltmeter reading the output of the system in the terawatt range. This would power not just the SGC, but half of America, if they had the materials to keep it running. It would be more than sufficient to break the light speed barrier, maybe even by a huge amount. She was about to get lost in thought again, when Kirk started snoring. Sam giggled like a schoolgirl. Captain James T. Kirk, of the Starship Enterprise, laying on the floor in front of her, and snoring like a lawnmower, was just too much. Sam couldn't help but notice, though, that Captain Kirk was very attractive. She just looked down at Jim with a smile, noticing that even though she wore the SGC uniform, she still pinned her Starfleet insignia to the shirt. At first, Sam thought about waking Jim up, but Jim hadn't gotten much sleep. Sam just picked up a blanket from the cot, put it over Jim's sleeping body, and turned off the lab lights. She'd come back later.

Jim woke up with a blanket over her that she was reasonably sure she hadn't put there. She stretched, and her back was not a fan of the concrete floor she'd fallen asleep on. The reactor still hummed away, though, and Jim still found comfort in the sound. Checking the clock, she realized that it had been a solid 4 hours since she called Sam and then fell asleep. A second try was in order, but first, she'd need some food. The captain walked, half-asleep, to the commissary. She found Daniel and Jack at a table eating lunch, excitedly discussing something she didn't quite understand. Daniel was excited, anyway. "The poetry alone filled up 3 hard drives, Jack! Poetry! We haven't even started in on the histories! This could be the find of the millennium!" Jack was smiling in a way Jim knew all too well. "Of course you haven't, Daniel. We all know the poetry comes first," he said. Jim grabbed a plate from the counter, filled it up, and caught a glimpse of Dr. McKay making a hasty exit. She sat next to Daniel and asked, "Is Rod avoiding me? He hasn't talked to me in days, and he just booked it like he'd seen a ghost." The linguist was confused. "Rod?" he asked, his head tilted slightly.   
"You know, Rodney? McKay?"  
"Dr. McKay? If he were avoiding me, I'd buy lottery tickets."  
Jack chuckled. "You'll have to teach Carter the secret."  
Jim didn't quite get their hostility. Rodney didn't have people skills, but neither did half the science division on the Big E. She decided to set it aside for later and instead asked, "So, what's on our agenda today?" Daniel gave her a quizzical look, and Jack replied, "Don'tcha have that science stuff with Carter?" Jim laughed. "Nope. Got that one just about squared away. I'll have to talk to her about it, but it's done for now." Jack's face lit up just as Daniel sighed. "You know what that means, right?" Jack asked, and then he continued excitedly (and Daniel chimed in resignedly), "Save the Geek." Jim gave the two men her captainly glare, and Jack explained gleefully, with Daniel interrupting.

"It's the SGC's best training exercise-"  
"It's stupid."  
"-a scenario that simulates accurately most of our offworld missions-"  
"We do so many other things."  
"-and it's great for team building."  
"Except that one of the team members spends the whole thing duct-taped to a chair."  
At this, Jack turned his grin on Daniel directly. "You can't tell me you don't enjoy it."  
Daniel cracked a soft smile. "You could at least use more comfortable restraints."  
"What, and take the fun out of it?"

Jim laughed and ate her breakfast while her new teammates debated the finer points of restraining Dr. Jackson - "for the training exercise, of course." She enjoyed the company. It reminded her of Spock and Bones, and she felt a pang of homesickness run through her. She excused herself and went to visit Sam in her office.

The scientist was tapping away at her computer, so Jim knocked on the door jamb to get her attention. Sam turned around and smiled when she saw Jim standing there. "Good morning, Captain Kirk! That's a beautiful thing you've built in there, you know. It'll completely revolutionize how we think of power generation." Jim scratched her head. "It's not that big of a deal. I'm just happy I could help you." Sam's smile widened, and Jim quickly added, "Earth, I mean. Humanity." _Smooth_ , she thought. _Nice save, Tiberius_. Sam replied without missing a beat. "It actually is a big deal, Jim. It's a huge deal. Who else could build a warp core from scratch, using twentieth century tools and technology?" The starship captain took it literally. "Well, apparently myself, but also half the engineers on the Enterprise. Spock, of course. He could probably do it blindfolded. And there's really no telling what Sulu is capable of; that man is frighteningly competent. Did you know he has a sword? Who keeps a sword on a starship?"

Sam sighed. "It's still crazy, to think that the Enterprise crew are all real people." Her face brightened after a moment, and she asked, "What's Mr. Spock like?" Jim laughed. "You mean besides a pain in my ass?" She noticed that Sam's smile faltered ever so slightly as she heard that, and said with false shock, "You have a crush on my science officer!" Sam got defensive very quickly. "A lot of people did, Captain. Nobody thought he actually existed; it was all harmless fun."   
"Easy, Major. I'm just teasing. For what it's worth I had a crush on him too. He's a very good person and an even better friend. He's also taken. He and Dr. McCoy are the best couple in Starfleet, and I'm happy to have them as my senior officers. Hell, I'm sure you understand; Jack and Daniel remind me so much of those two."

At this, Sam bolted for the door, drawing Jim inside and slamming the door shut behind her. She forcefully put Jim in a chair, sitting next to her, and with a serious look on her face, said, "Spill it." Jim was confused. "Spill what?"   
"Jack and Daniel. How did you find out?"  
"Have you ... seen a conversation between the two of them?"  
Sam lay her head in her hands and sighed. "Damnit. I keep telling them to be careful."  
"Is there a regulation against officers having relationships with civilian consultants?"  
After a moment, Sam laughed bitterly. "Right. The future. No, Captain, there's no regulation against relationships with consultants. Being gay, though; there is a regulation against that. Gay people aren't allowed to serve in the military. If Jack and Daniel get discovered, they're gone. Discharged dishonorably. They don't even get to keep their pensions."  
"Pensions?"  
This elicited another deep sigh from Major Carter. "Right. Future. Suffice it to say, we use money here, and the loss of their pensions would really hurt them in the long term."  
"And this blatant discrimination is legal?"  
"No, Captain. The discrimination is the law."  
Jim was furious. "What, so they'll overlook their precious bigotry for me because I have a shiny warp drive? No. Fuck that." She got up and stormed out of the room.

She made it to her lab, still furious, and shut off the reactor before picking up a fire axe and starting to hack at it. It was a loud process, and she was bound to get attention, but she hadn't expected Teal'c. "James Kirk, what are you doing?"  
She grunted her response more than she said it, between swings of the axe. "What's it look like?"  
"Is the device unsafe in some manner?"  
"Earth is un-fucking-safe."  
"Captain Kirk, you are injuring yourself."  
Her responses started becoming less coherent as she kept hacking at her creation.  
"Injure? Trapped here. Who cares about injury?"  
A few more swings, and she hadn't even dented the casing of the reactor, but she couldn't feel her arms, and she collapsed in a heap, crying. Teal'c knelt down next to her and picked her up, carrying her to the cot in the corner and setting her down. He sat next to her and said nothing, waiting for her to speak.   
She kept quiet too, hoping he'd leave her alone, but the Jaffa had patience in spades. She eventually said, "I can't. I cannot work with them, Teal'c."  
"For what reason, James Kirk?"  
"I took an oath. I swore to defend the ideals of the Federation. To uphold the Charter. This Earth, it doesn't have those ideals."  
"I do not know of this Federation, but I do know that the Tau'ri are honorable allies."  
"I'm sure these ones here are, but they answer to people that aren't."  
Teal'c looked at her with sympathy. "Indeed."  
"What can I do about it?"  
"There are many dishonorable leaders here amongst the Tau'ri, but the people of the SGC are sound, and their cause is freedom. I have vowed that I shall die free. The Tau'ri are the best hope of freedom for all Jaffa, and I give them my aid toward that end."

Jim just didn't know. She was sure that these "Tau'ri" were her best chance of going home, even if that best chance was still basically nothing. Unconsciously, her hand went to the shaved side of her head, running her fingers along the scar she'd kept there. _No-win scenario_. That scar was there precisely to remind her there was no such thing, as long as she had friends backing her up. That was step one, then. Friends.  
There was a knocking sound from her door, and she laughed. "Come on in." She had a good idea who was coming for her even before Sam walked into the room.

The major had expected Jim to be alone, and had absolutely expected the look on the Starfleet woman's face to be upset, or angry. Anything but the calm smile that greeted her. She didn't know the captain very well, but she absolutely knew that look. She'd been arrested more than once for the plans that hatched behind that look. "You managed to scratch the paint there, Captain," she joked. In response, Jim's smile widened. "Look at that, I did. It's a tough motherfucker, though. It'll survive and work. And so will we. Tell you what I'd love, though, Sam. Could you do me a favor?" Sam's first response was to say no, but she wasn't the type for self-delusion. Usually. Jim Kirk was the kind of person Sam couldn't turn down. She nodded, and the captain continued, grinning, "I need you to teach me _everything_ about the United States of America."


	5. Chapter 5

This wasn't Jim's Earth, and it wasn't going to be. She'd known that, of course, but it had slipped away as she focused on her project. Putting new context around this whole experience meant that she had rules again. There were guidelines once more; the game was in her control. She didn't have any specific rules about being trapped in an alternate reality, but she did have the first rule of problem solving. What would Spock do? The logic (and yes, the emotions) of her Vulcan science officer had saved her ass more times than she could count. Agreeing to help her captors - and that's exactly who these people were, captors - was a logical move. They were, technically, an interstellar civilization, so even if they hadn't developed warp drive, General Order 1 was a massive gray area. Cooperate and escape, that would be her mantra. That couldn't be too hard, could it?

Gate team training was fun, which hadn't been what Jim expected. A six week course of physical training, classroom education, and simulated offworld missions shouldn't have been "fun" so much as "grueling," but she was James Tiberius Kirk. There was something invigorating about running circles around trained warriors while wearing Starfleet gold and black. The way their underestimation melted away into emasculated anger tickled her fancy, but she didn't gloat once. Cooperate and escape, eyes on the prize. Whatever she needed to get home, it was on the other side of that Stargate. She was sure of it. She'd do whatever it took to get to that other side.

At various points throughout the training course, it was determined by her fellow trainees that being a Starfleet captain was cheating. She responded the same way every time: "Yep." Jim never really did learning, not without doing some teaching too. The lesson she was determined to teach these SGC recruits was that out there, cheating was how you saved lives. Every time someone asked for help, she gave it willingly, and over the few weeks she had, she slowly became the de facto leader of the recruits. It hadn't been her intent; she just had that effect on people. Cooperate, befriend, and leave peacefully? Maybe. It was her experience that the people at the SGC were good, kind, and brave: all the things she valued in her crew. It was the people above the SGC that were the problem. She was mulling it over in the barracks at night when an airman burst through the doors, pretending not to be out of breath. "Captain! Ma'am, they need you back at the Mountain. There's been an incident."

On the drive back to Stargate Command, she tried to pester more information from her driver, but they'd remained frustratingly tight-lipped. Idly, she wondered whether this was her first official SGC incident or if her arrival had been. It probably didn't count, Jim supposed, if she _was_ the incident. The base looked no more frantic than usual from the outside. The inside was another matter; she could cut the tension in the air with a knife. Carter met her at the base of the elevator with a puzzled look on her face. "Welcome back, Jim. This is going to be a fun one." Sam gestured to the captain to follow her, and they walked into a conference room, where SG-1 was waiting. Jack started a video for them as they entered.

Two men were sitting at a table, and they looked oddly familiar to Jim. She couldn't quite place them, though. One had long blonde hair and a scruffy beard, and the other was clean-shaven, with short, light brown hair and an angular face. They were both in handcuffs, answering the questions of an unseen interrogator.  
"I already told you, you need to take us to the SGA," said the blonde.  
"There's no such thing as the SGA."  
"Then you call it something else. Stargate Operations, the Stargate project, Stargate Command, _something_."  
"What do you know about the Stargate?"  
The blonde man was getting agitated. "You're kidding me, right? I. Built. The. Dialing. Computer."  
"The dialing computer?"  
"Yes, and then you sent your first team through the Gate to Abydos. Among them, Danielle Jackson and Jen O'Neill. They used a Mark 2 nuclear device to destroy Ra's mothership."   
At this, the shorter man bristled. "That's still not cool, by the way," he said, shifting positions to reveal a Starfleet insignia across his stomach. She recognized the shirt he was wearing as a variant on the Command tunic, green rather than gold. It had actually annoyed her to no end that the Fleet hadn't come up with a dress variant. That apparently wasn't an issue for this one, though. The familiarity of the faces made sense now. These people, somehow, were her and Sam from another reality. How had they gotten here? Why were they men? Why was _she_ a man?   
"Colonel, we need to talk to them," she said.  
"To yourselves, you mean?" Jack drawled. "That's who they say they are. Captain Jim Kirk and Major Samuel Carter."   
She pushed down her involuntary shudder at the thought of herself as a man. "Yes, sir. They have to have gotten here somehow; I might be able to get home the way they came."   
Sam added to her plea. "We really should talk to them, Colonel. I have a feeling they'll be more cooperative with us."  
Jack sighed in exasperation. "Go. Go talk to yourselves."  
As they left the room, they heard him say, "This is why I don't want kids, Danny."

There were two guards posted outside the conference room, but otherwise the only people in the room when Jim and Sam walked in were their doppelgangers, kissing passionately. Jim blushed redder than a fresh tomato, clearing her throat as she sat across from ... him. Carter sat opposite Carter, and as the male versions of Jim and Sam broke off their kiss, at least Samuel had the good grace to look sheepish. The male Jim simply grinned at his female counterpart.   
"Finally, someone from Starfleet. See, Sam, don't lose all hope." He glanced at his fellow captain's sleeves before continuing, "Care to get us released, Captain..."  
She smiled sadly. Yes, this was definitely her. Him. He was her. This would becone irritating very quickly.   
"Kirk," she replied, "Captain James Tiberius Kirk."  
"Yes, that's me. And you'd be?"  
The two Carters were staring at them, wry smiles on their faces. Jim looked to her Carter and asked, "Am I this dense, Samantha?" Major Carter's eyes sparkled, and her smile widened, but she didn't say a word.   
"I'll take that as a yes," the captain continued. She returned her eyes to meet those of her counterpart, and as his deep brown eyes met her bright blue ones, she said, "I'm James Tiberius Kirk, captain of the USS Enterprise. I prefer Jim to James, though. These two" - she gestured to the Carters, who were watching their respective Jims with amusement - "are smart enough to realize it right away, but you and me, we're Kirks. We use our hearts before our heads."   
Samuel snorted. "She's got you pinned down, James."  
His eyes narrowed angrily. "You think that's funny? A good joke? 'Ha, ha, ha, James Kirk's a woman?'"   
These words bury themselves into her chest like daggers. He was her, and he didn't believe her. What did that make her? She snarled instinctually and responded, "Not nearly as much of a joke as the idea of me ever being a man."   
The alternate Jim tried to lunge at her, but was caught by his restraints. Jim found herself being dragged out of the room by an upset Samantha, who closed the door behind her.   
"What was _that_?"  
She took a few deep breaths before answering. "He sat there, Sam, the man I never was, and he didn't believe me. He called my womanhood a joke. Even other versions of me don't believe I'm a woman. What does that mean for me? I can't accept that I'm wrong. I couldn't possibly be wrong about this, Sam."  
The blonde leaned against the wall next to Jim, running a hand through her hair. "You're not. You're not wrong, Jim. Besides, we're not the only ones. From what Samuel said, basically everyone from that reality has the opposite gender. The only difference is that you chose yours. Think about it this way. If you were wrong, wouldn't the other Jim be a woman? Your doppelganger is a man _because_ you're right."  
"Yeah, that makes sense. You're right. I should probably try again, with less kneejerk this time."  
The major smiled. "Get in there and stop hitting yourself."  
Jim laughed in spite of herself. "Well, you know what they say. My own worst critic."

 

* * *

 

Sam drew Captain Kirk into a hug and held her tightly for a moment. She hadn't even considered the effects on Jim from seeing her doppelganger, a man. The Starfleet captain was far more invested in her gender than most people, so naturally it would throw her for a loop to see a version of herself living happily as a man. Sam let go after a few moments, then walked back into the conference room and took her seat. The alternate Jim and Sam were waiting quietly, holding each other's hands, and Sam thought they were possibly the cutest couple. She almost envied Samuel, in fact. Clearing her throat softly, she said, "So, you two are together."

Her counterpart replied, "You're not?" with an expression of surprise.   
"No," Sam said. She and her Jim were definitely not together. There was no way they could be. Sure, Jim was a very attractive woman, and Sam could definitely see why anyone would fall for her, but Jim didn't think of her that way. Besides, it would end their careers. They'd never set foot through the Gate again. Sam couldn't see why anyone would give that up for her. People only did that sort of thing for love, and the two of them weren't in love. Not in this reality. Was it wrong to feel a pang of disappointment at that?

Her brief melancholy was interrupted by her Jim entering quietly and sitting across from the male Jim. The two were silent for a moment, and hers spoke first. "I'm sorry for antagonizing you. I know you're just like me, just looking for a way home."  
"No, I antagonized you. It's my fault. You're just doing what I'd do in your place," replied the other Jim.  
Another period of brief silence ensued, and in unison, the Jims let out a deep sigh. They said together, in nearly identical voices, "So you didn't transition, then."  
Still in unison, their eyes widened. "But... no. Really? You, you really?"  
Sam stifled a laugh. She'd had her suspicions. Hopefully, the two of them would get along better with this particular cat out of the bag. She let Samuel lose from his handcuffs and motioned for him to follow her, leaving the key for the two Jims.

She and Samuel were sitting in her office, and he had already found her coffee stash and started a pot of the good stuff brewing. Sam poured them cups and started her own interrogation. "Quantum mirror?"   
Samuel nodded.   
"How?"   
"We found a control device with ours."  
"You wanted to go with Jim. To the Federation."   
"He wanted to go home."  
"What about your home?"  
"My home is wherever Jim is."  
The two Sam Carters sat in silence, faces maddeningly red for a moment. Samantha whispered, "I never had anyone like that. No guy I've ever dated was ever that much to me."  
Samuel smiled. "And the women?"  
She shook her head. "I'm an Air Force officer."  
"Right," Samuel chuckled. "I'll pretend I didn't ask and you didn't tell."  
She was about to ask him how he and his Jim had gotten around that particular issue when he started flickering in and out of existence, his chuckle distorted into a scream.


End file.
